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Renting a sewing machine from the library
151–160 of 244 posts
Re: Renting a sewing machine from the library
#152Earlier quoted context omitted.
While I understand some people think this is clever, all it does is increase costs for businesses which ends up increasing costs for honest consumers. Worse yet: it tends to increase the cost for local businesses, or at least businesses employing local people, so it's giving the finger to your neighbours rather than to the man.
Many autoparts store have a formal tool lending program that is structured as buy/return. I know it sounds like @bombcar is suggesting some “lifehack” that is closer to stealing. But, no, this is an actual service provided by actual auto parts stores. https://www.autozone.com/lp/loan-a-tool
If it is a formal policy of the store, then it's a different story. They could also manage it in a way to minimize costs. That said, I have run into people who are proud of "discovering" the lifehack version.
Re: Renting a sewing machine from the library
#153It's a bit weird to see the BBC reporting on this happening in Finland, when plenty of 'Libraries of Things' exist in the UK! I think they tend to be run as community efforts rather than by public libraries. though.
Re: Renting a sewing machine from the library
#154Denver has this... nominally. 3 machines (2 in circulation, one is a "Display"). 4 week checkout period. 103 current holds. 103*4/2/12 ≈ 17 year wait time.
That doesn’t seem right - off the top of my head I think it’s more like 4 years?
maybe it should be “103*4/2/52” (not “/12”) ?
… hopefully the effective wait time is considerably shorter if a long line is taken as a demand signal, leading them to buy more.
Re: Renting a sewing machine from the library
#155While in the USA, republicans are threatening funding of public libraries cause LGBTQ books are in there!
GASP, SHOCKER!
This article is also directly related to https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48596911 "The room the economy can’t see"
Capitalists won't willingly fund 3rd spaces without a demonstrable profit. So they're at the behest of public funding (read: government). And when the new ruling party gets in, they can demand their bullshit on threat of funding or be shut down.
Re: Renting a sewing machine from the library
#156Earlier quoted context omitted.
While I understand some people think this is clever, all it does is increase costs for businesses which ends up increasing costs for honest consumers. Worse yet: it tends to increase the cost for local businesses, or at least businesses employing local people, so it's giving the finger to your neighbours rather than to the man.
Many autoparts store have a formal tool lending program that is structured as buy/return. I know it sounds like @bombcar is suggesting some “lifehack” that is closer to stealing. But, no, this is an actual service provided by actual auto parts stores. https://www.autozone.com/lp/loan-a-tool
Ok, so they don’t call it a ’buy’ program.
It’s a lending program, for free. With a deposit for full value so it becomes a purchase if you don’t return it in time. Same structure but the phrasing matters.
Cool idea.
Re: Renting a sewing machine from the library
#157My local library doesn't have a sewing machine, but it does lend out projectors, game consoles, a telescope, musical instruments, and bicycles.
You can even check out a banjo, which seems like the sort of decision that says a great deal about a community's acceptance and tolerance.
Electronics: https://alpl.org/equipment/ Instruments: https://alpl.org/musical-instruments/ Bikes: https://alpl.org/borrow-a-bike/
Re: Renting a sewing machine from the library
#158The Olive Free Library in the Catskills, NY will lend a fishing pole. (The Catskills is considered the birthplace of “American” Fly Fishing traditions).
Re: Renting a sewing machine from the library
#159Tool rental is a service that is commonly provided by private sector. I do not see a reason why this should be provided by a government. This seems like unfair competition to e.g. community hackerspaces.
Agree, and I also don’t see why government should be involved in book rental. Why books and not say, car rental? What about jetski rental? (If the argument is that subsidizing books helps the poor, I’m all for it, a nonprofit or a charity would be a much better framework) This is the public sector M.O, instead of admitting something is obsolete they grab more scope and funding. My local post office now sells iPhones.…
At least in EU, private book/media rental is not legal without special licensing from copyright holders, while public libraries have exception for this.
Re: Renting a sewing machine from the library
#160It's such an absolutely weird tension...
The libraries in Belgium at least are absolutely amazing!
They are filled with :
- books (obviously) beautifully curated
- comics
- magazines
- sometimes even audiobooks in the form of CDs
- sometimes also events with authors on absolutely important topics like ... what it means to be human
and they are also
- basically free (few Euros per year, at most, and if you cannot pay)
- staffed with people who absolutely love the mission
... and empty.
It's totally nuts. They are basically full of top materials with dedicated staff, but nobody goes there. We even have toy libraries and... it's the same. Sure during some moments of the week it's relatively busy but mostly empty. Meanwhile we can order online any book or toy or video games for very little money... but also we don't use them for very long.
It's a very strange tension that we somehow manage to setup a very inclusive infrastructure for knowledge in few centuries, or arguably decades, yet in few years we totally cancelled ALL that effort.
Now libraries are looking for events because nobody "needs" content anymore.